


Stranded

by creed23



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Battle, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fight Sex, Lightsabers, M/M, Post-Canon, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-10 22:47:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5603767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creed23/pseuds/creed23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting a tip about Snoke's whereabouts, Rey is asked to help find him. But when she confronts Kylo Ren, he lures her away from the main battle and into a revelation neither of them is ready for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I have a bad feeling about this," Finn whispered as he clutched Rey's upper arm, his nails digging into her bare skin. 

Though she'd never admit it out loud, she didn't like their situation any better. 

It was too damn quiet. So quiet that Finn's erratic breathing and the ice-cold crunching gravel under their feet echoed in the dark cavern as they advanced.

Gripping the lightsaber, her eyes darted around the crumbling corridor with unease. The deep welts in the stone didn't look like the result of a poorly aimed phaser. The frozen vines encroaching on their space seemed to be the only things keeping the barely-there walls upright. A frigid wind hissed between the cracks, hitting their dry skin with a vengeance. Rey turned, eyeing the phaser in Finn's shaky hand. 

Something was definitely off. 

A swarm of stromtroopers should've greeted them at the temple's entrance. They had all but blasted their way in, the engraved doors now lying in a messy heap of rubble. Instead, they had gotten maybe five white nimrods which had taken care of in less than one breath. Ever since Poe had left them on the planet and taken off to regroup with the rest of the pilots, everything felt a little too easy. 

After all, one expected Supreme Leader Snoke to be surrounded by the best minions First Order had on hand, not some leftover guards wandering about. 

"Where is everyone?" she asked, stepping further into the darkness. 

Finn shook his head, grinding his teeth. "What're the chances they're performing a coordinated dance for Snoke's enjoyment as we speak?"

Rey snorted, a small smile creeping its way onto her face. As if the First Order needed to become any more ridiculous. The small pieces of intel the Resistance had managed to gather ever since her and Finn unofficially joined them had been scarce at best. A little talk about army gatherings here and there, some rumors about trying to resurrect the now defunct and clearly ill-conceived Starkiller project, strengthening the lines in the Knights of Ren - the usual absurd and foreboding stuff.

And then came word of a map leading right to Snoke's hideout - this dingy, decrepit temple they'd been exploring for a while. 

When the news hit, the Resistance had immediately sent Poe, the man who always halfheartedly interrupted Rey's training again and again whenever there was another confrontation with the First Order, to deliver the message to Luke. Finn had surprisingly tagged along to retrieve her, a broad smile and a joke at the ready. 

And Luke's response at seeing Rey's eyes widen and her body starting to tremble with excitement had been to firmly forbid her from going anywhere near the 'foolish plot', before secluding himself in meditation for three days. 

And then he had all but pushed her off his island, eyes sparkling with an emotion Rey hadn't been able to identify since. 

"Your journey..." he had said almost reluctantly, his voice graver than usual, "demands your presence there. It's...happening sooner than I had anticipated. You need to go. "

And she didn't need to be told twice. With one last look at her stoic master, a tight hug with Finn, and a pat on the back from Poe, the three of them had set off, following the instructions the base had given them. 

It was supposed to be a surprise attack. And, boy, were they surprised to not see anybody attacking them as they landed on the freezing planet. 

"Can you feel something? Anything?" Finn asked as he peeked behind a corner, his loaded phaser held dangerously close to his face. 

Rey's eyebrows creased. "I'm not a blasted radar."

Finn shot her a questioning look and she shook her head. All things considered, she should've been able to feel the stromtroopers. She couldn't. And that made her more mad than worried. She'd been on the edge ever since she had left the planet, a small unidentifiable pressure muddling her mind. And she could swear it has somehow increased since walking into the temple. 

"Sorry," she mumbled and stepped in front of him, down the corridor and further into uncertainty. She had trouble casting out her senses through the Force. She had hoped a year of training would remedy that. But then again, she'd had more than one ridiculous expectation of her own power. 

She had been careless and arrogant. After defeating Kylo Ren - because calling him Ben, even in her own mind, would still attribute a shred of humanity to him - on Starkiller, she had presumed the Force was strong in her, strong enough to help her beat him whenever they came face to face again. But not only had Master Luke killed that silly notion in less than a week of meditation and hovering small rocks about, she had never been given the chance to fight Kylo again. Properly, that is. 

Sure, whenever the First Order and the Resistance had their little spats that ended in nothing but dozens of casualties on both sides, both her and Kylo had been at the center of them, swinging their lighsabers with natural - and practiced - ease. But he always seemed to evaporate whenever she came close to him, always going after someone else. Never her. 

In those first three confrontations, she had goaded him. Master Luke had been as close to mortified as the aloof man could get when he had heard what she had been screaming at Kylo, trying to get him to confront her. Anguished yells about past failures, killing his way to a horrid top, murdering his own father right before her eyes. The first time she had brought up Han, his entire body had flinched and he had almost gotten his mask blown off by Finn's phaser. The second time, he obliterated the stormtrooper standing next to him. The third time, he didn't even look like he had heard her, just walked away from the fight. Away from their fight. 

"I think that map was a bust," Finn said, bringing her back to their glum trek. "Probably their way of sending us on a wild chase while they attack the base. And Poe'll have to fight them off himself."

"Along with a hoard of X-wings right behind him."

And that hoard of X-wings should've been flying above them, blasting their way through the protective field surrounding the temple. Instead, her and Finn had wind, doubt, and a rotten smell wafting through the air to keep them company. 

The stillness reminded her too much of all those lonely nights spent in the Jakku desert, dreaming of families and hoping to talk to someone. She used to spend weeks without exchanging more than a few grunts at a time. 

"And I'm sure he's fine," she said and gave him a half-smile. She might've been imagining things, but she could swear she saw Finn breathe a sigh of relief, his hot breath forming a white cloud in front of him. 

"Of course he is," Finn said, shrugging a little too stiffly to be natural. "He's Poe Dameron, the best pilot, the best -"

The ground shook beneath their feet. Rey and Finn braced themselves against the left wall, clutching the icy vines with all their strength. Rey felt her muscles constricting painfully as she held on, the skin on her fingers prickling against the frosty surface. Finn closed his eyes and his head caved between his shoulders, the smallest of whimpers escaping his chaffed lips. 

Another powerful jolt, and Rey closed her eyes as well, shielding her vision from the falling dust that now coated her hair and shoulders. Only when the temple stopped shaking and her limbs felt like lead, did she open them again, only to see the floor sloped to one side and the other wall completely gone. Not just a pile of dirt - gone. 

"If I'm gonna die underneath a mountain of rubble, remember to take my jacket and bring it back to base," Finn said, carefully stepping down. He kept his back to the wall, arms splayed wide. "This shit is not right."

"Did...where did it go?" Rey asked, carefully treading the uneven ground. What she saw made her heart stop. 

Instead of the small indent she had been expecting, there was a large chasm. No, not large. Humongous. Pitch black. The falling rocks still clanked against the walls as they fell down. And small bits of the floor were still disintegrating right before her, plunging into the shadows. Rey swallowed, her breath uneven. 

"We have to go back," she said and turned to Finn. "Go back."

"Rey...?" Finn said in a shaky voice, tilting his chin towards the way they came. 

Rey followed his gaze with growing dread, her neck stiff and her stomach in knots. The damn floor they had stepped on mere seconds ago was no more. The rapidly-growing abyss had swallowed it all, leaving behind only blackness. And the stones continued to crumble at an alarming pace. 

"Run." Rey's whisper carried through the small space, encased between the remaining wall, ceiling, and the darkness next to them. 

Before another rock fell with a roaring howl, Rey and Finn had already sprinted off into the shadows, their destination unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

Encased in putrid black stone, that's how she was going to die. 

After surviving for almost two decades on a wasteland where the inhabitants were fiercer than the sand storms, after she had haggled her way out of starvation and being shinned for spare parts, after she had beat the loneliness with only her will and wit to keep her company, after she had flown halfway across the galaxy to discover the Force - or maybe it had discovered her somewhere along the way - Rey feared she was going to die in this forsaken temple which should've been torn down eons ago. 

And worst of all, she would take Finn right along with her, just as he had tasted the first real drop of freedom. 

"Come on, come on, come on," she chanted in one breath - whether for herself or Finn, she didn't know. 

Running alongside each other, Finn glanced back, the dread growing in his large eyes with every crane of his neck. 

Every time their feet landed on the shaky rocks, the chasm to their right seemed to open up wider, chasing them down. 

Finn whispered something unintelligible, his breath uneven. Everything around them turned to dust, the air becoming harder to breathe. Rey's legs couldn't carry her fast enough, her lungs protesting with each stride. She cast out the Force, trying to feel for a way out, for a heartbeat, anything. She couldn't. Something in this place was tampering with her powers, cloaking them in misery. 

Light, that's all she wanted. A small glimmer leading up towards the surface and away from the stone tomb they had carelessly walked into. 

"Up ahead!" Finn shouted.

A fork in the forsaken road, one decrepit corridor leading to the left, while the larger one went straight ahead. Rey's body made the decision long before her mind caught up. She barreled onwards, Finn on her heel. 

A deafening boom resounded around them. Rey stopped dead in her tracks. Finn bumped into her, his blaster digging painfully into her back. The ground shook again, propelling them to the only solid surface - the wall. 

Rey shuddered, her head spinning. "We have to keep going or we'll be caved -"

Well, she was going to suggest they keep on running for their lives, but the vibration did more than throw her around like a feather in the hurricane and leave Finn gasping for air. The last shockwave left the entryway to the larger corridor filled with rocks bigger than Poe's X-wing and sharper than the edges of Master Luke's island. Rey suppressed a frustrated cry.

"Option number two it is," Finn said before grabbing her hand and hauling her toward the first corridor. Rey wretched her arm back. 

The chasm opened up right before them. A few feet of thin air separated them from their destination. 

"You sure about this?" she asked, her scream almost swallowed by the blare. 

"No!" Finn shouted back. With one last look, he spun his arms around him to gain momentum and jumped. One moment he was standing next to her, in the next, he was holding on to the corridor's edge, hauling himself up with a loud grunt. 

When he was upright again, he beckoned Rey with a spastic wave and he seemed to mouth "What're you doing?"

Without daring a look down, Rey swung after him. The air was knocked out of her when her chest hit the edge. Her already dirty fingers dug into the dry mud with vigor, as she tried to prop her feet against the crevice's rim. She kept slipping. 

Finn dashed toward her just as she was already halfway up, grabbing the back of her tunic and tugging up. 

"I'm fine," she said, a little out of breath. This place was doing something to her. Something vile. 

Behind them, the darkness surged on, swallowing every surface in its wake. Rey and Finn watched it go on, their erratic breathing mixing together. 

"So..." Finn began, his stare fixed on the vanished floor. "That was..."

"Yeah," Rey said, nodding slowly. The vibration had stopped, and with it, her darting thoughts. They were safe from a horrible death. For now. 

"Let's not do that again." Finn laughed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. 

Rey laughed right with him, the tension in her limbs fading away. "Best idea we've had all week."

"Hey, at least it's not as worse as the whole Sullust flop. I still can't get the weird smell of metal falling into lava out of my nose," Finn said and turned. His smile vanished. 

"What're the chances that'll lead us out of here?" he asked and tilted his head to one side. 

Rey looked around her, the smile dropping from her face. "I'd say slim to none."

The cramped passageway opened into a chamber so large, Rey immediately thought it was a First Order hanger. She lit her saber before she blinked again, an impulse trained into her by Master Luke's constant trials. 

"Now that looks like a place someone like Snoke would like. Dark, gloomy, with just a hint of ostentatious," Finn said, resting his hands on his hips. "I don't want to go in there. I know I have to." He nodded a little too vigorously, pursing his lips. "But I really, really don't want to."

"Let's get this over with," Rey said, grasping her saber with both hands. 

They advanced at the same pace, shoulder to shoulder. Their steps resonated in the humongous, dome-shaped cavern. Gone were the jagged edges, the almost clumsy carvings that dominated the temple. This hall was new. This hall looked and reeked of First Order filth. Two slabs of metal crossed together in the center - the only way in and out - forming an oval platform. Around them was a fetid lake, the water as deep and black as the abyss behind. Three large metal doors, shinning in the faint light coming from the few cracks in the ceiling, stood on each end. 

And footsteps were coming from behind two of them. 

Finn opened his mouth. 

"I hear them too," Rey murmured, cutting him off. 

"We have a better chance standing in the middle," Finn said, a strange wheezing noise coming from the back of his throat.   
Rey nodded. They made their way to the platform, careful not to get too close to the water, which seemed to bubble right beneath the surface.

Rey tried to estimate the number of stormtroopers they'd be facing, stretching her mind through her foggy Force. Ten, maybe twelve. Too few for her and Finn's intrusion. 

Both of them stood in the center, back to back - their usual stance. They had fought together so many times, it had become a chilling dance. 

Saber high, blaster at the ready. 

The doors swung open at the same time. In poured the white armors, blasters shooting past them. Rey crouched down, extending one of legs. Finn ducked to the side, shooting right back with a grimace. 

Amid the flurry of red, both of them sidestepped the dangerous shots, drawing their enemies closer to them. Finn managed to shoot down two of the stormtroopers on his end when Rey jumped into the air and landed on the slab in front of her, cutting off their approach. She swung her saber, careful to hit hard enough to disarm them and take them out of the fight, but cautious not to kill. 

She hated it. Hated the fact that she had to fight the nameless, faceless drones every time. A beating heart lay underneath the white shell. Finn had been one of them. She'd seen his worrying frown and glassy eyes after every battle - he hated it as much as her. There could be countless others like him, waiting to be freed. 

Another slash of her saber, another stormtrooper hitting the ground. His body fell dangerously close to the murky water, and as Rey flipped past him, she made sure to push his head safely back onto the slab and make it look like a kick. She pivoted on the spot, one leg up in the air, as she disarmed another enemy. 

As she spun into the air, she made sure to chance a glance at Finn, who was busy shooting at a stormtrooper's leg, as he avoided another hit that could've been deadly. She turned around, lips pursed, eyebrows knitted tightly together, saber in the air. She stopped mid-hit. 

She felt him long before the sound of his robe sliding on the floor filled her ears. 

An instant jolt emanating from the back of her head wrenched her back. Rey closed her eyes tight, her limbs and thoughts trembling against the intrusion. The feeling burned through her, beckoning her to turn. 

No. 

She fought it off with a scowl and made quick work of disposing of the last stormtrooper before her, who fell down to his knees, clutching his right arm. 

The dull echo she felt planets away ever since that blasted torture session back on his ship roared to life, electrifying her. But she'd never felt this type of pull, both curious and demanding. So unlike Master Luke's gentle probing. The aggression behind it had scared her a year ago. Not anymore, not here. She turned slowly, her spine stiff, the grip on her saber stiffer. Brown eyes met the cold chrome that had been flitting in and out of her dreams. 

Kylo Ren had stepped into the fight. And he was silently beckoning her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaaa. Second chapter, first Kylo sighting.
> 
> Since this story's almost written, I'm guessing I'll have to bump up the chapter numbers, since I already have about 2 more chapters worth of words. We shall see.
> 
> As always, kudos, comments, and everything in between are always welcome. Have an awesome day!


	3. Chapter 3

Kylo looked like he was born from the depths of the murky water surrounding them, his shadowy robe and threatening mask rising from the darkness underneath. He stood motionless, illuminated by the blasters going off in the background. 

Without taking her eyes off him, Rey tried to reach Finn's thoughts to warn him . If Kylo had made an appearance, the Knights of Ren would soon follow. And then Snoke. Without Poe and his crew backing them up, there was no way the two of them could win the battle. 

She gripped the hilt tighter, her lighsaber still shinning bright. Despite every cell in her body screaming at her to charge, she didn't move. He had to take the first step. Be the first one to attack. Half of her expected him to turn, robe billowing, voice grating, and shuffle back to whatever hole he had managed to crawl out of to finally face her again. 

The clash of his thoughts against hers increased, the grating feeling intensifying with every second. She wouldn't cave. They'd stare at each other for the rest of eternity if they had to. She projected that thought out to him, daring him to act. 

Instead of flying into a flurry of limbs and rage, he chuckled. Kylo chuckled, the sound distorted by his mask. 

"I think we are way past that game, don't you think?" he asked. His robotic voice vibrated in the chamber. 

Finn finally noticed him, a wheezing sound of annoyance escaping his lips.

"Rey, get back!" Finn managed to shout before two remaining stormtroopers jumped on his back. He struggled to shake them off. He kneed one of them in the groin and used his upper body strength to topple the other. 

Rey sucked in a breath to keep from lashing out. She had to remember Master Luke's teachings. She had to keep her emotions in check. Distantly, she wondered if he'd ever faced Kylo Ren in all his grown-up moody glory - he'd probably understand Rey's frustration that he kept chastising her about. 

"You call it a game?" she said, trying to keep her voice even. "Every time I see you, at least one person dies."

"Blaming me for every casualty is not what I would call fair," he said. Even with the metallic modulation, his voice held nothing of the rage Rey felt through the mental bond he refused to sever, no matter how many times she pushed back. 

"Is that what you call your father's death? A casualty?"

He remained silent. Rey knew she had hit her mark when the dull shape of his thoughts roared to life, blinding her with their intensity. But mixed in with the fury was a sadness so profound it made Rey's legs shake. And she could only feel a tiny fraction of whatever Kylo was feeling at the moment. 

"Aren't you tired of reminding me of that memory?" he asked sharply. 

Rey sighed, her eyebrows furrowing. "Aren't you sick of living with it?"

Her answer finally ignited him into action. In one swift move, his joke of a lightsaber was lit, his back slightly hunched as he prepared for the attack. Rey mirrored his stance, raising her own saber. 

Finn's voice interrupted Kylo before he could lash out. 

"Hey, I'm right here!" he shouted, waving his arm. 

He aimed his blaster at Kylo, shooting for the back of his mask. Kylo didn't even turn as he stopped the laser midair, three feet away from his body. With another flick of his wrist, Finn stood paralyzed on the spot, a sheen of sweat on his face from trying to break free. 

"Let him go," Rey said in a deadly whisper, feeling her heart seize. She could take whatever he planned to dish out, but Finn was too precious to her to be harmed in a stand-off that should've been long finished. 

Kylo inclined his head, waving his saber in a perfect circle. "Make me."

Something snapped in Rey's mind. She wasn't entirely sure were the compulsion came from, but one moment she was in her usual defensive stance, the next she was flying through the air, her only desire to slash Kylo's mask off his face, and maybe take him down along the way. 

Her flight was over in a blink. Kylo effortlessly blocked her with his own saber and used so much strength to push her back, Rey landed on her back, her head dangling over the slab's edge. A few stray hairs connected with the water and they sizzled. She rolled back to safety, feeling the back of her neck with panicked, jerky movements. 

Her stomach dropped. If Kylo threw her again, there was a high probability she'd land in the dangerous liquid. That was a death she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Kylo took a threatening step in her direction. He had probably sensed her hesitation, his advance much more controlled and steady than Rey would've anticipated. It came as close to strolling as a man like Kylo Ren allowed himself. Behind them, Finn's eyes darted around, his face swollen from the exertion of breaking free of the hold. 

It unnerved her, Kylo's lack of apprehension. The last time they had fought, she had beaten him. He probably still had the scar to remind him. So, why then, did he behave like there was no real danger in the chamber with him?

"You caught up on that, did you?" he asked, a leisure in his tone that didn't betray his swarm of emotions radiating through the Force. 

Rey breathed in sharply. No. He couldn't read her thoughts, it was just a wild guess. Anybody in his position would've said the same. She had cloaked her mind just like Master Luke had taught her. 

"See, that's the problem," he said and swung his saber. Rey quickly blocked it, but was forced to move a step back to avoid a serious blow. 

She retaliated, pivoting on the spot with ease and grace. He blocked her again, forcing her to step back. Another step, another small defeat. 

"You finally understanding you can't possibly win?" Rey said, trying to fake her confidence. This wasn't right. She should've been able to land at least one blow, preferably to his head. 

"No." Kylo shook his head slowly. "You forget Luke also taught me."

Then he pounced. 

He brought down his lightsaber against Rey's, again and again and again. Each clash sent a tremor through her, as she struggled to keep her weapon up, all the while backing away from the center of the chamber under Finn's panicked gaze. She bent sideways, under Kylo's force, as their lightsabers met in midair, both of them pushing against the other. Her arms shook, her breathing shallow. Too strong. He wasn't supposed to be this strong.

He brought his mask closer to her face, unhurried in his advancement. 

"And I have the advantage," he began, in an eerie, calm voice. "Of knowing exactly what he trained your body to do. And your mind."

Rey's dread blew up, burning through her. No, he was bluffing. Her training couldn't have possible made her less prepared to beat him. 

"It did." He shoved her viciously. 

Rey tumbled, her lower back colliding with the hard jagged stone. She grunted out in pain, her back arching towards the sky. Kylo's saber came down next to her feet, forcing her to roll onto her side. His weapon left a large dent in the slab.

Rey stumbled back up, eyes wide and mind scattered. If...if what he said was true and now he could anticipate all her moves, go past her carefully prepared defenses, then se was lost. She had spent so much time honing the Force into whatever Master Luke thought appropriate for his first apprentice in more than a decade, that whatever instincts she had had that first confrontation on Starkiller were long gone. Or, she hoped, just buried underneath the rigorous mental parameters she had to train her thoughts into. 

Kylo swung his lightsaber again, forcing her to take another step back to avoid being sliced in half. A few feet more, and she'd be caged against him, the metal door behind her, and the festering liquid, ready to boil her down to dust. 

She had to get out, take Finn, and get as far away from the temple as possible. Regroup, revise her strategy, and then be prepared for whatever Kylo had to dish out. Survival. She was good at that.

"I know all of your tricks," he whispered, the sound distorted so much through the modulator, it came out as a metallic growl. "And the Force favors me here." 

So she hadn't been imagining things. Something in this place was toying with her power, dampening it. 

Without thinking too much, she let her nervousness and doubt blast through the periphery of her mind and cloud the connection between her and Kylo. Confuse him, she had to confuse him. Then, with a speed she didn't know she had, she barreled into him, her saber aimed at his skull. He blocked her, two second too late. The tip of her weapon seared his mask, the smell tangy and noxious. She strained to cut deeper, through flesh, muscle, bone and brain matter. His saber stopped her, dangerously close to both their faces. Half an inch, that's all she needed to finish him. His grunts of exhertion told her he knew the same. He flinched, almost imperceptivly. If they didn't have the mental connection, Rey wouldn't have detected it, but she felt his pain as little drops of melted chrome from his mask dripped onto his forehead. 

Rey pressed the lightsaber downward, struggling against his. Blue against red, light against darkness. 

Her teeth gnashed, her brow knotted, her muscles strained. That was the final image Kylo would have before dying. At her hands. The thought was bittersweet, but she could survive through the guilt of finishing Han Solo's line. Maybe. 

With a cry of pain, Kylo wrenched his saber forward, sending Rey flying through the air once again. She had been ready this time. All she had to do was plant her feet on the metal door behind her and propel herself toward him again. But instead of a hard surface, her body met only air, before crashing down into the ground. The door had been opened sometime after Kylo had made his presence known in the most intrusive of ways. 

He peeled off the melting mask from his face, throwing it behind him with such force it landed near Finn's frozen feet. Without taking his eyes, his rabid eyes off Rey, he advanced, one menacing step after another. Rey stood up, ready to run back into him. 

"That's enough!" he bellowed and raised his left arm. "Stop."

To her horror, Rey's limbs seized, her body trapping her on the spot. The mental frenzy took over and she struggled to break free of his hold. She managed to move her foot half an inch, drenched in sweat from the simply move alone, before he walked into the room, the metal door closing behind him with an ominous snap.

From the large chamber, Rey heard panicked steps, before Finn barreled into the door, showering it in a flurry of fists. 

"Rey!" he screamed, his voice muffled. "Rey, can you hear me?"

Rey closed her eyes, the small action making her head hurt and her back erupt in small beads of sweat. Kylo's hold was thorough. 

Kylo snorted, coming closer to her. 

"Just hang on. I'm gonna get you out of there! Rey!" Finn screamed, uselessly kicking the door. After a few moments, the pounding stopped, and Rey heard Finn running in the opposite direction. 

She was completely alone with Kylo. Alone in a square, sterile antechamber, so clean, she could see her reflection in the floor. 

She saw her fear reflected back at her and the shadow of Kylo coming closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yey, more fighting. I'm personally a huge fan of action sequences in the beginning of a story - as y'all can see - and more subdued ones later on. 
> 
> Hope I'm not the only one.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos warm my little writer heart. 
> 
> Have an awesome day!


	4. Chapter 4

"Endearing, isn't it?" Kylo said, malice in his voice. "How quickly he gave up and abandoned you."

It wasn't real. None of it was real. Rey tried to shake her head and keep the growing desperation at bay.

"Open your eyes," Kylo said. 

She did, letting them narrow into slits. 

His black hair was longer, framing his ashen face. Tiny specks of melted metal lingered near his hairline. Dark circles clung to his eyes, the healed scar slashing his beautiful face on one side. And those eyes, those deep, shadowy pools, were burning right through her. 

"There's something on your mind," Kylo said, letting his eyes roam over her frame, his brows furrowing. 

Rey took a sharp breath and grit her teeth. "Was Snoke even here?"

"Yes, but he's gone. He left when you activated the first failsafe in the corridor," he said and pursed his lips as he kept examining her. "Though Hux is still running around here somewhere, if you want to take him out."

"You knew we were coming?"

Kylo shrugged, not really looking like he was paying attention to the conversation. The pressure on Rey's thoughts had abated for the moment, giving her a momentary respite. "Thought you would. And the Resistance never disappoints. Though I didn't foresee you coming here. Imagine my surprise when I felt you, all eager and self-righteous."

"You felt me? How?"

"This is our temple. The Force is stronger for us here. And," he said and started circling her slowly. "Weaker for you, as you have probably gathered."

Rey trembled as he stopped behind her, his body an immovable wall. She could hear him breathing deeply, as if he was sniffing her. Her mind recoiled in disgust, a fiery feeling in the pit of her stomach that she hadn't felt before. 

"Drop your weapon," he instructed in a whisper, his warm breath wafting through a few stray hairs near her cheek. 

Rey felt the compulsion to follow orders and fought against it. Her fingers slackened on the hilt, but she held on, concentrating the Force to her right hand. 

Kylo sighed and grasped her wrist with his large gloved hand, squeezing tightly until she couldn't keep her fist closed anymore. 

The saber fell down with a resounding clank, signaling her defeat. She was going to die, away from her friends, away from Master Luke, away from her family. 

"I'm not going to kill you," he said and moved in front of her again, his large frame blocking her view. "You're too valuable."

Instead of calming her down, his declaration only increased her efforts of breaking free from his command. A pathetic, yet honorable death she could handle. Being tortured, having her mind turned inside out for his amusement, before being turned into a Dark side weapon was the worst fate she could imagine.

"But first," he said and his right hand hovered dangerously close to her forehead. Rey brought up every shield, every partition, every mental defense she had in her arsenal. The cloud shrouding her power ever since she had stepped foot in the blasted temple made everything that much more difficult. "I need to find out where uncle Luke has run off to."

He pressed his fingertips gently against her skin. But there was nothing gentle in the way he yanked her most private thoughts to the surface, slashing and probing his way through her mind. 

Rey swore in her head, her frustration seemingly amusing Kylo. Now she could see how much of a weakness Master Luke's teachings had been. He told her to wrap each thought beneath the next, one layer at a time, as it her mind was a sphere inside a million other larger spheres. But she could see the flaw in that strategy. A warrior like Kylo would penetrate her deepest thoughts even if it killed him, breaking each layer as he went. It might take eons, but he'd find the information he wanted. Her new barriers weren't strong enough at this point. 

When she had faced him the first time, without any training whatsoever, her instinct had been to project her mind like a labyrinth, with a million different paths and useless thoughts to follow, like she had to find her way through wreckages in order to scrounge up measly food. Endless tunnels and corridors of metal. She could redirect the intruder at her leisure, leading him down the wrong way and ambushing him at the right moment. Now, she struggled to recreate those paths, a year of training having obliterated her rudimentary, but ultimately superior strategy. 

She had kept Kylo out of her head that first time. She would do it again, faulty technique or not. 

With barely concealed rage, she noticed his thoughts shuffling between her recent memories, trying to get to Master Luke's location. Rey bombarded him with memories of every day spent on the island, never giving him a glimpse of the terrain or the planet. If he wanted information, she would give him so much useless shit, he wouldn't know what to do with it.

She started off with her training, which Kylo seemed to know all about. From levitating pebbles all day, to munching down on barely-edible muck, day in and day out. She felt him getting frustrated, trying to dig deeper into her mind. She wouldn't let him. She flooded her thoughts with hopeless drivel, not even paying attention at the next image she threw at him, all the while burying the real information as deep down as she could. 

Images of her crying out in pain when she first fell down, of her screaming out in anguish when she couldn't even lift BB-8 into the air, of her first official fight, when she killed that first stromtrooper, of her crying herself to sleep for a week after that, of all the lonely meals when Master Luke was meditating, of all the nights she felt abandoned and her mind raced to different places and people, of -

Kylo stopped and took a step back, severing their connection along the way. His eyes had widened, his raised hand trembled.

Rey's composure shattered. 

No.

She couldn't have. No. She hadn't given him any information, had been careful not to show him the night sky, or the ocean, or anything that might give the island and the planet away. Why had he stopped? She hadn't -

With a determined stride, he slid off his gloves and grasped her head with both hands, his fingers digging almost painfully into her skull. Rey couldn't feel his emotions anymore, despite the close contact. He had closed himself off from her. His curiosity, resolve, and triumph at finally having her pinned in front of him, her mind at his disposal, had vanished into nothingness. But his push increased tenfold, scorching her. He retraced his steps from the last mental intrusion, swimming through her memories with ease, until he landed on the one that had frightened him enough to make him retreat. 

Rey briefly wondered why her sleeping form would cause such a reaction. Then she saw her dreams, the ones too distant to remember when morning came. 

Impossible. These images weren't hers. They couldn't be. But they reeked of familiarity and shame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Dadadaduuuuuuuum.
> 
> First of all, I like characters who have agency and who are amazing because they worked at it, not because they were preordained or the powers to be simply favor them. I felt TFA lacked a bit in explaining how Rey could use the Force to such a degree without any training. Being born powerful is just not that attractive to me, so that's why I tried to explain how Rey's survival on Jakku (because, hello, she survived by herself for more than a decade and she became brilliant while doing so) had aided her in repelling mind tricks the first time round.
> 
> On another note, this fic should've been done by now. I mean I have the smutty version all written out. BUT I'm having way too much fun writing this, so I'm turning it into a longer piece. On the plus side - yey, more scenes with Rey and Kylo (and Finn, cause he's amazing). That also means a much slower burn and all thoughts of instant gratification gone. And there we are. 
> 
> Hope you're all on board with this.


	5. Chapter 5

At first, she didn't know what was happening. Blurs of black and grey danced against each other, close, but never touching. A few images came into focus, a clenched fist, a trembling lip, dark hair cascading over a pale shoulder. Everything felt foreign to her, the movement, the sensations, the whispers, the touches, and yet...

How she saw him, a distorted image at first, innocently reaching out for her, crushing her to his frame, gently dipping his head until their lips met and crashed against each other. 

Then the image changed into something wilder, filthier. Gone were the innocent, uncertain touches from her mind. In their stead stood a vivid picture of her writhing underneath him, above him, with her back to him, a tangle of limbs and sheets and hasty movements. He did unspeakable things to her in her dreams, all leaving her panting, wanting more, screaming out his name as she clutched his hair into her tiny fists, his head between her legs. Those thoughts weren't hers, she realized with a start. They were his.

He dislodged himself from her, his panting filling the small room. 

"You want me," he said. His shock seemed even greater than hers.

"No, I don't," she said quickly, straining to shake her head. No. He'd done something. Implanted those images in her head during the interrogation, used the force to subconsciously torment her. It wasn't real, none of it. 

"I saw it. I saw how you pictured us."

" That wasn't you." But one word kept marching inside her head, now blissfully vacant of his depraved thoughts. Traitor, traitor, traitor. She shook her head. She'd done nothing wrong. Nothing. 

Kylo licked his lips, his eyes darting around the room with unease. After a few seconds, he looked like he made up his mind and gulped. He raised his hand again, letting one finger trail from underneath her chin to the base of her neck, as if exploring, testing boundaries, not quite sure of what he'd find out. Rey closed her eyes and trembled underneath his touch, willing the foreign burning away. When he reached her collarbone, he stopped and inhaled quickly, as if the motion affected him more than her.

"You. Want. Me," he said with finality and - maybe Rey was imagining things - smugness mixed in with something suspiciously like hopefulness. 

"Funny," Rey managed to get out, her voice shaky. "When I was inside your head, I only detected delusion. Not outright lunacy."

He seemed to regain his bearing, a mask of calm taking over his features. "You can lie to yourself all you want. We both know the truth."

Rey shook. "The truth is that your lonely, twisted little mind somehow thought it a good idea to lust after someone you can't have."

"I'm allowed to. The Dark side lets me do whatever I want -"

Rey scoffed, keeping her eyes closed. "Sure."

"- but you, a Jedi apprentice should be above such..." He came closer, until their chests touched. "...cravings."

"If they're there, it's only because you planted them--"

"Liar," he whispered, his breath ghosting across her lashes. 

A coil of determination nestled itself inside Rey. 

"Don't worry," she said and opened her eyes, all defiance and resolve. "Nothing more training with Master Luke won't fix. By the time he's done, you'll be a fleck in the back of my mind."

Kylo grimaced, his lips thinning. He looked like he was debating with himself. A sudden tilt of his head signified his decision. "Let's make sure that doesn't happen, shall we?"

He grasped the back of her head in a tight grip. His lips crashed down against hers, more bruising than promising. Rey writhed underneath him, trying to throw him off. He was so tall. So tall and unrelenting. 

One of his hands travelled to her back, yanking her to him.

"Open your mouth," he whispered against her lips, coaxing her. 

But it wasn't a command. Rey felt no compulsion to do so. At least not from him. Her traitorous body was another master altogether. With the choice thrust upon her, she did as instructed, some perverse side of her brain demanding she wouldn't stop. Why? Why wasn't she pushing against him? 

"Like that," he said, his voice muffled against her cheek. 

She had to stop. Why wasn't she stopping? 

The skin to skin contact opened their mental connection further and Rey caught more glimpses of his decadent thoughts. She saw him against her, kissing the life out of him, pressed into a wall that looked eerily similar to the ones surrounding them, spurring him on, propped against him, her legs crossed behind him, his mouth latched onto her exposed breast -

This wasn't imagination. This felt like a memory, so deeply ingrained in him, it muddled with the ones of him training, of his bloody fingers as he swiveled the saber again and again and again. The memory flowed through his veins, infesting hers, suffocating them both. No. No, no, no, no. It couldn't be. It hadn't happened. Couldn't happen. The Force wasn't so merciless. 

She threw her head back. He stopped breathing. Fear, panic, disbelief mirrored between them. 

"You foresaw this," she whispered, her entire world caving in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides behind a boulder* No pitchforks, please!
> 
> I can't even being to apologize for the delay. If it helps at all, I had a good reason--I've been writing my own novel. Dreadful business, all that editing. And the writers among us know how hard the querrying process goes.
> 
> I wanted to write more of this fic, I did. But after an entire day of edits, I couldn't Every sentence which came out sounded like complete and utter garbage. I couldn't subject you to that subpar writing, I just couldn't.
> 
> And yet, this fic kept bouncing around my brain in the middle of the night. I hope this little chapter will be enough for you to forgive me.
> 
> As always, thoughts are highly appreciated. 
> 
> XOXO
> 
> PS--you might not agree with my vision (and feel free to disagree in the comments, I always love a healthy debate), but I always pictured these two reverting to highschool mode were they to ever be in a situation like this. Rey's had little to no human contact while growing up and Kylo...he's Kylo, come on. So this chapter is the embodiment of that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. You guys. I saw The Last Jedi tonight. No spoilers, I promise. But the flicker of creativity has been lit anew. I'm so sorry for the inexcusable long wait. I'll be better at updating. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Fury pumped through her veins. But underneath it, a more wretched emotion, spilling out from her chest and burning her veins. Terror. 

"Is that why you brought us here, so that you could try and...what? Seduce me?"

"I didn't do anything. Until I felt you across the temple, I had no idea you were coming here," he said, running a hand through his disheveled hair. 

"Then how did...."

"It was a vision," he mumbled, avoiding her gaze. "I only realize it now. It shouldn't have been, but it is."

Rey wrenched herself back, breaking the hold he no longer seemed interested in keeping. Kylo took a step back. Then another. Then another, until his back molded to the wall, tension rising into his body.

"Didn't it rattle something inside you? Dreaming about me?"

His gaze travelled up and down her body, hungry. So no. Dreaming about her wasn't a weird enough occurrence to cause any amount of panic.

"Did you dream about me?"

Rey squeezed her eyes shut.

"So yes," he said, smugness coating his words.

"Don't flatter yourself. It usually ends up with your torso detached from your body."

"And the rest of the dreams?"

The rest...the rest were made up of things she'd only ever heard of in slurred and loud conversations her ears shouldn't have been privy to. She could fill in the blanks, as inexperienced as she was.

"You did this." Her harsh whisper echoed around them. "You implanted this in my mind."

He barked a bitter laugh. "If I could, I would have used it to purge you of your self-righteousness, not making you wet in the dead of the night."

Rey's cheeks had never burned so much. "How do we stop it?"

Kylo shrugged. It wasn't as relaxed as he wanted it to look. Rey knew he was as freaked out as her, he was just better at hiding it.

"You've got a decade of training and learning on me. How. Do. We. Stop. This?" Rey asked, almost desperate for the answer she wanted. Ignore it. Fight it. Kill him. Nothing was off until the vision became obsolete and nothing, nothing could ever force her future into that direction.

Kylo parted his lips, albeit unwillingly. Whatever words he planned on spewing, they never flowed.

The ground shook again. The lightsaber was in Rey's hand before the first vibration finished, frantic eyes scanning the bare room. She wasn't going to die like this. Like a rat, buried under rubble. With him. 

The vibrations began again. Only it wasn't the ground. It was the door.

"Rey," Finn's frantic voice came from the other side. "Duck!"

Kylo chuckled. He swiped his right hand against the wall. An invisible door slit the metal. "See you soon."

It sounded like a threat more than anything. Before Rey could swing her saber at his head, he'd already stepped into the tunnel, the metal unmovable. A second later, the main door was blown to bits. Rey shielded herself, but no shards of metal cut her skin or clothes. Quick steps brought her to the jagged opening. Finn stood on the other side, sweat dripping across his forehead, a First Order issued weapon grasped firmly in his arms--and then flung away as he barreled into Rey, hugging the daylights out of her.

Rey hugged him right back just as fiercely. "Thank you."

Finn stepped back, keeping his large arms on her shoulders. "Don't you EVER scared me like that. Ever."

Rey nodded, a thankful smile gracing her face. "Let's get out of here."

The labyrinth wasn't easy to navigate, but Finn had an uncanny knack at finding exits. And saving her. And being her friend. What in all the galaxies would she do without Finn?  
As soon as they boarded the ship, and Rey finally found her breath, the question in Finn's eyes finally passed his lips.

"What did he do?" he asked, all comfort and sympathy and...Finn. Everything pure and good. Everything she might never be again with this weight on her. Infecting her body. Infecting her thoughts. Infecting her.

"Nothing." Rey took a deep inhale. She wouldn't worry Finn with this. She had to carry the weight herself--before she found a solution.

She would find one. She had to. Something to stop this. To save her from that wretched future. But even as the certainty flooded her, Rey thought she heard a chuckle echoing inside her mind. It sounded too familiar for comfort.

Force help her, what was she going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, hi, hello. I did it. Spoiler-free update! Woohoo! Sorry for the long wait and for the shortness of the chapter (it's 3 am over here, boo). I've been focusing on my original writing (I finally got an agent! Yaaaaas) and that had to take priority. But I'm in a bit of a vacay right now, so I hope I'll update soon.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your lovely comments. You're the best. Hope you have a fabulous day (evening)!

**Author's Note:**

> So. This little story has been nagging me ever since I saw TFA and I thought I'd start the year off with a bang *ha,ha, not even*. In this universe, Kylo and Rey are NOT related and will continue to be so for the purpose of this fic, no matter what comes in 2017. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy, kudos and comments are the sweet nectar of gods, and if you spot some Star Wars-universe inaccuracy (un-beta'd work here, guys), please let me know - I only saw TFA once (so far). Have an awesome day!


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